The Brooding Architect is convinced that my break-up story is bullshit and that the only reason I wanted to change hairdressers is because my new hairdresser is directly across the road from the jam and custard filled bomboloni doughnuts at Sugardough. He may just have a point…

I used my first haircut with the ‘other hairdresser’, as an excuse to meet up with some friends – The Esoteric Educator and The Film Buff Lawyer – for a late breakfast.

Lots of food writers and bloggers have raved about Sugardough over the years, so I won’t repeat the same details over again. In true, lawyer bullet point list style, I will highlight the important stuff though:

• All of the baked treats are made on-site;
• The sweets are exceptional (even “breakfast dessert” is a must);
• It is cheap;
• It is popular – expect to have wait for a table on the weekend; and
• It is cash only.

I ordered the Breakfast Tart - generous layers of whole free range eggs, ham, tomato and spinach encased in flaky pastry base.

The Breakfast Tart

The Brooding Architect and The Esoteric Educator were both ‘carb loading’ for the following day’s bike ride, so ordered the Egg & Bacon Panini. This is the ultimate hangover sandwich – fried free range bacon, fried eggs, gooey melted cheese and tomato relish.  The relish is the perfect balance of sweet and tangy, cutting through the richness of the bacon and cheese. I swear I took a photo of this amazing sandwich – but it is nowhere to be found on The Brooding Architect OCD-style date and time catalougued photos. You will just have to trust me that it looked just as good as it sounds.

The Film Buff Lawyer was very retrained and ordered the granola – sadly my hands were covered in the Breakfast Tart, so I was not quick enough for a photo. It was filled with lots of good stuff – and looked devoid of the dreaded ‘filler fruits’.

While making room for our “breakfast dessert”, we washed our meals down with a couple of strong flat whites and admired the kitsch 1950s-style pastchio green fit-out. The coffees were well made – strong and creamy.

Savouring a coffee to make room for "breakfast dessert"

For our “breakfast dessert” we shared some fresh-baked almond croissants and some jam and custard filled bomboloni doughnuts.

The still-warm-from-the-oven almond croissants were sensational, ticking all of the right boxes -  deep yellow colour (evidence of truck loads of butter in true French style – much like the ones Emmanuel made on Poh’s Kitchen), filled with a rich almond cream and drizzled with a sweet sugar syrup.

The still-warm-from-the-oven almond croissants

I have saved the absolute best bakery treat for last though - the bomboloni. According to Wikipedia, the English translation for bomboloni is ‘large bombs’. True to translation, the bomboloni doughnuts at Sugardough are fantastically large balls of sweet pastry, injected with jam (or custard, or chocolate) and then liberally rolled in sugar. You could say that they are a ‘bomb’ for your arteries if you ate them everyday – although I am certain one per week is okay…

Jam Filled Bombolini

A selection of baked treats from The Red Hill Kitchen The Red Hill Kitchen

The Red Hill Kitchen

Red Hill Kitchen is a quaint farmhouse kitchen, located on Prossor Lane, which runs off Arthurs Seat Road. The drive up this lane is ‘picture perfect’ idyllic countryside at its best.

Driving up Prossors Lane

Idyllic country backdrop

The Red Hill Kitchen is surrounded by a productive market garden, stocked with fruits, vegetables and lots of fragrant lavender. This produce is then transformed by the owner and chef, Bernie, into delicious baked treats,  jams, relishes and sauces (the traditional tomato sauce is particularly good).

The market garden which surrounds The Red Hill Kitchen

Particularly impressive looking artichoke from the market garden

The Red Hill Kitchen is not licensed to serve hot food and drinks; so food is really only available takeaway for you to then heat up at home – or to eat cold. The other option is to order the Goats Cheese and Caramelised Leek Tarts which have just come out of the oven and eat these while still warm in a sunny spot in the market garden. The pastry which encases the Goats Cheese Tart is handmade on site – it is buttery, flaky and crunchy. Delicious. The sharp, tangy goats cheese is a perfect match for the sweet caramelised leek too.

Goats Cheese and Carmamelised Leek Tart

We also stocked up on a range of sweet treats for the ride home – a large slice of prune tart, a lemon tart and some quince tarts (which at only $1 a pop we could not afford not to buy!).

Prune Tart, Lemon Tart & Quince Tarts

All of the tarts are encased in a sweet version of the buttery homemade pastry described above.

The lemon tart was filled with a lovely egg-based lemon custard. The custard is silky smooth, with a sharp citrus flavour. The custard is also a deep yellow colour – indicting that the eggs used were very fresh, with deep yellow-orange yolks.

The quince tarts are filled with a homemade quince jelly. The quince jelly has a rich and jammy flavour and is a beautiful deep red colour. Sadly, (or perhaps for the best as far as my waistline is concerned), these little bite sized treats disappear in one or two bites.

My absolute favourite treat of the day was the prune tart. I know prunes have a bit of a terrible reputation – insert old person toilet joke here – but I still love them. The prune tart was deliciously moist and sweet and was topped with a carmelised brown sugar topping, resulting in a beautiful crunchy, rich golden syrup flavoured crust.

Now if only The Red Hill Kitchen could get its hand on a coffee machine…

]]> http://www.thehungrylawyer.com.au/cheap-dates/the-red-hill-kitchen-red-hill/feed/ 5